From French To English
by Amara-BelleTomlinson
Summary: "How was your Christmas?" one of the girls in my dorm asked. "Bad" I replied. The girls laughed; "Didn't you get the presents you wanted?" "No." I replied. "My parents were murdered". Amara's life turned disastrous on Christmas Eve. She was forced to swap schools, speak a different language and try to make friends with people that really didn't understand her. Screw this war.
1. Prologue

** Prologue**

"Run, Amara-Belle. Whatever happens, don't come back. Run and hide." My father whispered, fear drenching his voice. My mother had tears streaming down her face as she gave me a hug. "Go to Aunt Violett. Don't get seen. We'll meet you there." she told me hurriedly, opening the back door for me to head out into the snow.

I was about to hug them again, but the dark figures that had been coming down our long drive blasted open the front door, leaving me to only glance at my parents, tears streaming down my face, before I clutched my wand tightly and ran into the darkness.

I made my way through the thick snow that carpeted the fields that separated my family's house and my aunt's. I could hear explosions and shouting, as well as some manic laughter, but those sounds faded as the icy wind carried them away.

I struggled through the night, but eventually managed to reach my aunts back door. No lights were on, which didn't surprise me, as it was very late at night. I knocked loudly, shivering in the cold. As no-one opened the door for what seemed like years, I decided to unlock it by magic, hoping my Aunt wouldn't mind. This _was_ an emergency after all.

"Aunt Violett?" I shouted into the darkness as I shut the door behind me. No answer. I didn't know she was such a deep sleeper.

"Lumos" I whispered, my wand igniting at once.

I slowly made my way deeper into the house. "Aunt Violett?" I called out again. Still nothing.

Opening the door to the drawing room I froze. The room was a mess, everything upturned, the chandelier shattered on the floor, even the grand piano that my Uncle had given my Aunt as a wedding present was wrecked.

I knew what this meant. The Death Eaters had been here as well. I stopped breathing and listened. No sound, not even the ticking of the clocks. The intruders here must have been the same ones that had come to our house. But if they'd finished here, where were my Aunt and her husband?

I ran through the rooms, each more wrecked as I neared the front of the big house, and soon it sunk in that I was the only person in this house. I shivered, the frosty air was hurling through the shattered windows, biting my face. I wished I could go home, but my parents had strictly told me to wait here. I ended up finding a small guest bedroom and huddled under the sheets, waiting. As the full shock of having my house attacked, as well as that of my Aunt and then having her and my Uncle disappear hit me, tears began streaming down my face and my breath came out in sobs.

I must have fallen asleep after that, as the next thing I remembered was being woken up by someone shaking me. I quickly opened my eyes, ready to fall into my parents arms after the shocks of tonight, but instead I was faced with a group of elderly men, talking in low tones, only their wands emitting light. I shrank back into the covers, but realized soon enough that these weren't Death Eaters.

One of them I recognized, as he was a friend of my father. "What's going on?" I asked them.

He wore a pitying look, glanced at one of the other men who was obviously the leader of this group, before carefully sitting on the bed next to me.

"Your house, as well as this one and your grandparents' house have all been attacked tonight. " he said quietly. The other men had stopped talking, and were so silent I couldn't even hear a breath.

"Where are my parents?" I asked suddenly. Why hadn't they come?

My father's friend, Monsieur Trevant, I believed he was called, looked at the floor and shook his head.

My breathing hitched. They couldn't be-? No, I refused to believe it. It couldn't happen to them.

"We found their bodies in their house, both been hit by an Avada Kedavra." The main man of the group told me quietly.

I froze, shock overtaking my body. "And my Aunt?" I managed to ask.

"They have disappeared, but I doubt they are alive as well. As for your grandparents, none of them survived either" he told me.

And that was when I blacked out.


	2. The talking Hat

**Chapter One**

The rest of my holidays passed in a blur, as I was moved to the home of my father's brother, someone we rarely talked to, mostly because they lived in England. I had tried to persuade my Uncle that I could return to my school in France, but everyone agreed that it would be much safer to have me close-by, so they enrolled me in some stupid school called "Hogwarts". Not only was I starting at a school where everyone else had known each other for five and a half years, I was also starting half-way through the year. I was also forced to speak pure English, which I thanked my teachers at Beauxbaton's for teaching me, as no-one for miles could say anything more than "Bonjour".

The headmaster of Hogwarts decided to aparate me to the school, to give me school robes and a class timetable, before I had to be sorted into a house. Whatever that meant.

The robes I was given to wear were some of the ugliest clothes I had ever laid my eyes on (all black and grey), and after telling me stuff like "the forest is forbidden" and "hexing people in the corridor is strictly forbidden as well" Albus Dumbledore decided it was time to head down to the feast. He picked up an old hat as we left his office, as well as a very old-looking old chair.

I entered the Great Hall with the headmaster, my eyes widening at the size of the school that was gathered around four, very long tables. Dumbledore cleared his throat as we stood in front of the teacher's table facing the room. Everyone quietened down immediately, throwing very curious and confused glances in my direction.

"Welcome back, I hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas, despite everything that is currently going on in our world" Albus Dumbledore said. "Now I would like you all to welcome Amara-Belle Rochette, as she has transferred schools from the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic over the break and will now be joining us instead." he smiled at me, before continuing "And now, as every new student, weather first year or, in this case sixth year, we must sort you into a house", he said, waving over one of the teachers.

A tall, stern-looking witch, with her black hair tightly pulled up in a bun, brought forward the wooden stool and hat that the headmaster had taken with him from his office. I frowned. Was I supposed to perform some kind of spell on it or something? The tall witch ordered me to sit on the chair, then carefully placed the hat on my head. Yuck, I thought. The hat definitely didn't smell new, and imagine after hundreds of years, how many thousands of students had worn it. What if one of them had nits?

"You're a bit rude, did you know?" The hat mumbled in my ear. I almost fell off my chair. Suddenly, I became very aware all the students and teachers watching me. "It's always fun to have a change though, seeing as I only get someone that isn't a first year every twenty years or so." the hat continued. "So why did you transfer? Hmm?" The hat asked. "Oh I see" it said. "I'm very sorry about your parents" the hat mumbled. "I can see you've been very brave about it though, so I could easily put you in Gryffindor. But my, what extraordinary talent you posses! Ravenclaw would do you very well too, but I fear that you are too... rebellious for that house. So I stand by my first choice, GRYFFINDOR!" The hat shouted out its last word, before the students and teachers started applauding.

The stern witch took the hat off my head and actually gave me a little smile, before leading the way to a group of girls on the table decorated with Gold and Red. "Evans, you're a prefect in her year, would you be able to look after Rochette for me?" she asked a girl with fiery-red hair. The girl smiled and nodded, before sliding over to make space for me at the table. I returned a smile, before sitting down.

"Now, I'm sure we're all starving, so let the feast begin!" Albus Dumbledore said in delight, as hundreds of dishes appeared on the table before me. The food looked average, not as good as the stuff we got at Beauxbatons, but I would survive. I looked up, and saw that even though people were shoveling food onto their plates, they were all still throwing curious glances at me. Great, I sighed. I was now the "new girl".

"So how come you transferred here?" A girl with curly blonde hair asked me.

"I came to live with my Uncle and he wanted me to go to school here, instead of in France" I smiled. I might as well try to be nice and get some friends. I don't think I could survive one and a half years without any company. Although having none might be just as boring as having ones with no sense of humor or adventure.

I really missed my old friends. All the memories I had, like pulling pranks on all the posh we're-so-much-better-than-everyone-else girls, sneaking out at night and generally all the laughing we did could almost bring me to tears. I prayed that I would find friends like that here as well.

"I'm Lily Evans by the way, we're going to be sharing a dorm, so you can definitely call me by my first name" the red-head introduced herself.

I nodded "I'm Amara-Belle, but you can just call me Amara" I told Lily.

"Oh I'm Christina Brown!" the blonde haired girl opposite me said. I could tell she was pretty confident, and had a feeling that she'd be the most fun to hang out with.

"I'm August Johnson" the girl with Dirty Blonde hair told me. "My Grandmother went to Beauxbatons as well"

"Really?" I asked. "What was her name?"

"I doubt you'll recognize it, she didn't come from a very well-known family" August said. "Victoria Calvet?"

"Your grandmama is Victoria Calvet?" I asked, not believing my ears.

August nodded. "Have you heard of her before?"  
I laughed. "My friends and I found a book in our third year, and in it were all these notes and stuff written by a girl named Victoria Calvet and her friends!" I told them. I didn't explain that her grandmama had certainly not been very well-behaved at school, as she had mainly written of her and her friends' countless expeditions. I hoped August had that gene in her, as that would definitely provide someone I could continue being myself with.

"That's so cool!" the last girl in our group said. "I'm Marlene McKinnon, by the way" she said, grinning.

"You must be really brave," Christina said, "Swapping schools and everything like that, when you don't know anyone here and everyone else has been with the same people for five and a half years or longer"

I shrugged. "It is pretty scary" I told her. Not as scary as having Death Eaters visit you on Christmas Eve though, I added silently in my head.

"Well we'll try to make it as easy as possible for you then" Lily smiled at me, the other girls agreeing.

"Thank you" I told the girls. Maybe this wouldn't be too bad after all.


	3. The Boy called Black

**Chapter Two**

The dorm room I would be sharing with the four girls was definitely a lot different to what I was used to.

"Cool, they extended the room!" August laughed as we entered the room.

Two beds were up against the walls on the left and right, and then there was a fifth bed at the opposite end of the room, the foot-end facing us. Two doors were at the far end of the room as well, which the girls explained to me were the showers and the toilets.

I saw my trunk next to the far bed, and decided I might as well unpack my few picture frames that I had managed to persuade some of the French Aurors to get for me from the ruins of my house.

"Is that your mother?" Christina asked me, pointing at one of the pictures.

I nodded.

"She looks a lot like you, you know." she said.

"Yeah, people tell me that a lot" I smiled.

"You look so cute in this one!" August giggled, picking up a different picture frame.

I glanced at it. "Yeah that's almost ten years ago," I explained. "It was taken on my sixth birthday"

Lily, who had come over to look at my pictures as well, frowned. "But that means your 15?"

I nodded. "And I turn 16 in May"

"Then how are you in our year? You have to be eleven when you start in First year, so everyone is sixteen when they start sixth..."

I shrugged. "Dumbledore said that my abilities are pretty advanced, so he thought putting me in sixth year would do me better than fifth."

"That must mean you're really clever!" Marlene said.

I laughed, before grabbing my things and heading to the bathroom.

Quarter of an hour later, I was sitting in my bed while the other girls talked loudly amongst themselves, as well as asking me many questions, such as "What's Beauxbatons like?" and "Have you ever had a boyfriend?" and "What are french boys like?"

I laughed at some of the questions, but answered them as truthfully as I could anyway. "What are the boys like here though?" I decided to ask.

Lily groaned. "They are stuck-up twats!" she answered, while the other girls laughed.

"They're not that bad, Lily just isn't very friendly with Sirius and James" August explained.

"What's wrong with them?" I asked, curiously.

Christina rolled her eyes. "Lily kind of blames them for ruining her friendship with Snivellus-"

"Don't call him that!" Lily said angrily. "He may have hurt my feelings but it's still no reason to call him horrible names!"

"Whatever, he's a git, so we can" Christina argued. "Anyway, Snape had it coming for him, I really don't know why you hung around him that much, he's bad"

"Bad?" I asked.

"We reckon he's part of the Death-Eater wannabe group" August explained.

I grimaced. Death Eaters had killed my parents.

"Anyway, how was your Christmas?" Lily asked me.

"Bad" I answered.

"What, like Death-Eater Bad?" Christina giggled.

The other girls laughed. "Didn't you get the presents you wanted?" August asked me.

"No" I told her. "My parents were murdered."

I know I shouldn't really have told them in such a harsh way. I hadn't really planned on telling anyone, as I just wanted to get away from the constant "How're you holding up?" and reminders that they were well and truly gone.

The girls stared at me with wide eyes, still not being able to form a sentence.

"No wonder you were put in Gryffindor" Christina ended up saying.

The other girls quietly agreed. "Is that the reason you live with your Uncle now?" Lily asked.

I nodded. "My grandparents and my Aunt were killed on the same night, and the only other close relatives I have live here"

The girls looked at me in shock. "And you're okay?" Marlene asked quietly.

I nodded, looking up at the ceiling to try and stop the tears that were threatening to escape.

"A girl called Pippa in Hufflepuff lost her parents as well last term" Lily told me.

"Yeah, but she didn't come back after the funeral, I don't think she could get over the shock" August told me quietly.

"Which means you're amazingly brave to still attend school, let alone a whole new one" Christina said.

I smiled a sad smile at her.

"Let's go to sleep, I want to be all fit for the first day back!" Lily said, crawling under her covers.

That night my dreams were haunted by the black figures, as well as the ruins of my house, just like they had been since Christmas Eve.

"What do you have first?" August asked me the next morning during breakfast.

I checked my timetable. "Transfiguration!" I told her.

"So do I! We all take it, actually!" August laughed. "What's your favorite subject?"

"Defense against the Dark Arts" I answered. "Or Charms, I can't really decide"

August laughed again. "Those are my worst subjects, but that's still pretty cool. I'm more of an Arithmancy person"

I nodded. "How about you, Christina?" I asked her as she fell in step with me and August.

"Well I'd like Herbology if I didn't keep getting dirt under my fingernails" she told me. "But I do rather like Defense and Divination"

August snorted. "You only like Defense because you can stare at the boys"

"Actually, no" Christina said haughtily.

"Fine, just Sirius." August laughed.

I giggled as Christina blushed.

"I can't wait to meet these boys, you talk about them as if they're bloody famous!" I exclaimed.

* * *

As we entered the Transfiguration classroom I noticed that most students were already there. Christina and August hurried over to one of the desks, telling me to go up to McGonagall and ask her where I should sit, as they all had set places.

McGonagall told me to wait until everyone had arrived, and during the meantime she talked to me about what I had already covered in this subject. She seemed pretty impressed with my knowledge already, and she even did a miniature smile, (it was so small I thought I had imagined it) and told me quietly that she was so happy I was in her house; she was the Head of Gryffindor.

Just before the clock struck nine, which indicated lessons would start, two boys ran into the room, looking slightly disheveled. "Sorry we're late Professor!" the one with messy black hair told the teacher, before sliding into the desk next to the other boy, who had slightly shorter dark, messy hair and glasses.

Professor McGonagall and sighed. "Move, Mr Potter, I told you last term that I will not have you sitting together in my class"

The Potter boy looked up at her with an innocent face. "Why ever not, Professor?"

"You cause too much of a distraction, you know that!" she told him. "Now move"

The boy sullenly moved to a table that had a Hufflepuff boy sitting at it.

"It seems that this is the only seat left now" McGonagall stated. "You can sit next to Mr Black, but," she turned to the boy sitting at the desk; "I beg you not to distract Rochette, as I'm sure even you could learn a few things from her in this class"

I heard the Potter boy snort. Did he think this Black boy was cleverer than me? I would have laughed, hadn't McGonagall been standing next to me.

I slowly sat down next to the boy. He wasn't that unattractive, just the fact that he and the Potter boy obviously thought they were celebrities pissed me off.

McGonagall walked to the front of the classroom and started explaining how to turn a book into a cushion. I'd done this already last year, so I focused more on the students around me. Most of them were paying attention, however I noticed Potter hovering a note to the boy next to me.

I quickly snatched it as it was in my arms length, before the boy next to me got it. I figured I didn't really want to be friends with him, as he clearly had an ego too big to fit into this room. He tried to wrestle the note from me, however I held it out of his arm's reach and unfolded it.

_She looks fit, Padfoot! Talk to her!_

Padfoot? What kind of a stupid nickname was that? I rolled my eyes and handed the note to the boy next to me. Acting as if I hadn't read the letter he scrunched it up, just before McGonagall turned around from writing on the blackboard.

"Now I'd like you all to try transfigure these books-" she started making a pile of books distribute themselves amongst us, "into cushions, then back again".

As soon as everyone had a book, the class began talking and waving their wands, saying the incantations. McGonagall walked between the desk, ever so often correcting someone. Lazily, I flicked my wand and muttered the spell, turning my book into a cushion immediately.

"Well done Rochette!" McGonagall exclaimed, seeing my velvet cushion. "Five points for Gryffindor! And Black as well! Take another five points!" She did one of her small smiles again, before turning back to the other students, who obviously needed more help than us. Some had managed to make their books soft and squishy, while others had cushions that had the cover page of the book imprinted on it.

I looked at the cushion next to mine. It was a dark velvet, and looked a lot like mine.

"You're cleverer than I thought!" I told the boy.

He raised is eyebrows and looked at me. Shit. He had the most amazing eyes. Pity he was such an ass.

"Same goes for you Rochette," he smiled and held out his hand. "I'm Sirius Black by the way."

"Yeah I've heard a lot about you, and your friend over there" I glanced at the Potter boy.

He smirked. "Yeah we're pretty well known"

"For your big ego" I finished the sentence for him. "And Lily told me that your behavior is atrocious"

"Aww, really? So are you a goody-two shoes then?" He asked. "Prong-James won't be happy about what Lily said though"

"Why not?" I asked, curiously, deciding to ignore his question.

"He's been in lo-o-o-ve with her since second year" he laughed.

"That's pretty cute. Apart from the fact that she hates him, I could actually see them as a couple"

"Really? Most people think the opposite, although I agree with you" he admitted.

I laughed. "Maybe one day, when you and him grow up she'll think about it"

"That's going to be a long time away though, seeing as neither of us two want to grow up" he told me with a wink.


	4. The first lessons

**Chapter Three**

"So what do you think of Sirius?" Christina asked me with a wink as we left Transfiguration.

"Him and Potter have egos the size of this castle" I remarked.

Christina and August looked at each other with raised eyebrows. "So you haven't fallen under the Black charm yet?"

I laughed. "How could anyone like him? He's too up himself!"

Christina and August shook their heads. "He has a half the girls in the school after him." August explained.

"More than that!" Christina laughed. "Almost all the girls in fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh obsess over him. It's kind of scary actually"

"Except for me. And Lily and Marlene. And now you as well!" August said brightly.

"So Christina is the only sixth-year Gryffindor who is actually under one of the boys' so called "Charm"?" I asked.

Christina blushed while August nodded.

"I really don't understand how" I said truthfully.

Even though it was only my second day, technically still my first 24 hours of Hogwarts, I was already starting to hang out a lot more with Christina and August, while Lily and Marlene paired together. Those two were more "bookish", quite the opposite of me, so I was glad that Christina and August weren't those kind of people either.

The next class we had was Potions, which was taught by the head of Slytherin.

Thankfully the tables sat four to six people at each, so all the girls from my dorm shared one. Potions wasn't my best subject, so I was glad to have Lily at our table, who seemed to be the best in this subject, apart from the greasy-haired boy that was called Snape. Today we were brewing a Calming potion, which was luckily just what we had been doing before the Christmas holidays started at Beauxbatons.

Professor Slughorn, the teacher, came over to me in the lesson and quietly asked me if I was related to the actual Rochette family. I hadn't realized that even people in England knew who the Rochettes were. I mean, in France we were known very well for being one of the oldest wizarding families, but I hadn't expected people here to realize.

I did confirm it however, and then the professor asked me to join his group of people that met up every so often for dinner or a christmas party or something. I agreed, all the while hoping that at least one of my friends went to these things too.

* * *

At lunch when I asked Christine about it, she snorted. "Hey guys!" she laughed, getting the attention of the rest of the sixth year girls. "Amara's part of the Slugclub!"

Lily, although smiling leant towards me. "Don't worry, I'm in it as well."

"Why aren't you though?" I said, addressing the rest of the girls.

"He only invites people that either show extreme talent," Christina said, looking pointedly at Lily, "or people that are well connected", she looked at me.

"So are you part of a famous family then or something?" Marlene asked, curious. "Sorry, but I kind of overhead you in potions" she continued, blushing.

I laughed, "Sort of, I'm a direct descendant of the Rochette family" I told them. "It's funny because although we aren't those people that discourage marriage between our family and muggle-borns, we have still managed to keep our bloodline "pure" as the pure-blood maniacs would say." I lowered my voice. "And that's why Voldemort kept trying to recruit my parents and family"

"And your parents didn't want to?" August asked carefully.

I nodded. "And that's why they got killed"

The next class I had was double History, where Lily and a boy called Remus Lupin were the only two Gryffindors in my year that took it. I had mostly learned about the French history up till now, but found I could keep up easily anyway.

As the last class of the day, I had Defense against the Dark Arts. This was the only subject I wasn't confident in at all, as we had other classes such as Ballroom Dancing at Beauxbatons, instead of learning how to defend ourselves.

The teacher was called Professor Berrycloth, and like Professor Slughorn, he had favorites. After noticing that I wasn't very advanced in his subject, he didn't pay me much attention , focusing more on people like Sirius Black and his friends.

By the end of the class I was sure that I absolutely loathed the subject, although it might have had something to do with the fact that it was the first class I had ever taken where I couldn't do the things the professor expected us to do. Potter and Black found this pretty amusing, as they had heard that I was supposed to be pretty clever.

"Aren't there any other Gryffindor boys in our year?" I asked Christina that evening in the common room.

"Well there's always Remus and Peter, but they don't get noticed that much, compared to James and Sirius" Christina told me, pointing out Lupin, who had been in my History class and a small, more plump boy.

"There are, however, quite good-looking guys in the year above" August said, smiling.

"Yeah but I'm kind of too young to date them" I reminded her.

"Fifteen and seventeen isn't that bad" August told me.

"Yeah, Sirius Black dated a fourth year at the beginning of this year" Christina said.

"Whatever, Black sounds like a player anyway" I laughed.

"Talking about the God of Sex, are we?" a cocky voice said behind us.

I rolled my eyes as Sirius and James grinned and squished themselves onto the couch with Christina and I, while August sat in the armchair opposite.

Sirius grinned and put his arm around Christina. She blushed, however I doubted Sirius noticed as he looked at me and smirked. "I noticed that your skills in Defense aren't as advanced as in the rest of your subjects" he told me.

I glared at him. "Nice detective work, Black" I said sarcastically.

"Well," he grinned. "I was just wondering if you'd like me to tutor you. If you know what I mean" he said with a wink.

"Piss off, Black, I'm not interested" I told him before pushing him off the couch.

He landed with a thump on the floor, then frowned at me. "Let's go, Prongs" Sirius told James and they both returned to their original spot with Remus and Peter.

"Why do you take Defense if you've never taken it before?" August asked curiously.

"Dumbledore reckoned that it's important for me to take it, as my family was targeted and the Death Eaters might come after me as well" I told them truthfully.

"Are you scared?" Christina asked.

"You'd have to be pretty stupid not to be scared by that" I told them. "Although from what I've heard, heaps of people are targeted like Muggle-borns and Blood traitors"

"Yeah it's pretty scary. Even Muggles are getting attacked, just for the fun of it" August said.

"On a brighter note, I heard that Frederick from Gryffindor in the year above is now dating Holly from Ravenclaw, and apparently they had one of the cutest dates ever in the holidays!" Christina told us.

"Didn't they get together at the ball?" August asked.

Christina nodded. "After arriving with separate dates, they ended up getting together" she explained to me.

"That is pretty cute." I agreed. "You guys have balls?" I asked.

They grinned and nodded. "But only once a year at Christmas" August told me.

"Oh. But you ballroom dance and everything at them?" I asked, getting excited

Christina nodded again. "We get a few lessons before each one, but that hardly means we're any good" she told me.

"Really? In Beauxbatons we got dancing lessons as one of our main subjects" I said.

"That must mean you'll almost be as good as Sirius!" Christina said.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm obviously better than him. In everything I do" I grinned.

"Apart from Defense" August pointing out, teasing me. I stuck out my tongue at her, then burst out laughing at my childishness.


	5. The tutor

I have to admit I did enjoy being at Hogwarts. I still missed my friends and wrote them so often I almost had a permanent cramp in my hand, although that could have also come from the huge amounts of essays we were forced to write. I enjoyed all of the subjects apart from Defence against the Dark Arts, were I was seriously lagging behind. One day Professor Berrycloth seemed to have had enough of me constantly holding up the class, and asked me to come talk to him at the end of the lesson.

"Look, Rochette. I understand that you don't have a lot of experience in this subject, however you are holding up the class" he told me. "I think it would be wisest to let you join the Defence class of the fifth or even fourth years instead, until you catch up."

I stared at the Professor in shock. He couldn't be serious? "Are you sure there aren't any other ways I could catch up, Professor?" I asked him.

He frowned. "Well I could get you a tutor. Is that a better idea?"

I nodded eagerly. Anything was better than having to attend classes of the lower years.

"Well in that case I'll get you a tutor as soon as possible. Would you be able to meet them at the entrance to the library today after lessons are over?"

I nodded and smiled. "Thank you Professor"

"You got yourself a tutor?" August laughed, when I told her at lunch.  
"Well it wasn't my choice!" I exclaimed. "It was either that or move into a class full of 14 and 15 year olds!"  
"But you are 15, aren't you? Christina asked me.  
"Yes, but I've always gotten on better with people that are older than me." I told her. "When people are younger or the same age as me I always feel responsible for what they do, while when I'm friends with people that are older than me, they obviously are responsible for their own actions."  
Christina nodded. "That makes sense"

"Do you know who your tutor is?" August asked me.  
I shook my head. "He didn't tell me anything. It's probably some poshy-washy prefect in seventh year, who completed Defence with outstanding results last year."  
"Could you imagine if you got Sirius as a tutor?" Christina giggled.  
I glared at her. "Ew. Just... no. I think I'd rather kill myself"  
"Or maybe James" August laughed.  
I rolled my eyes. "No, I don't think Professor Berrycloth would trust them with tutoring."  
"True" August and Christina agreed.  
"Remember that last time Professor McGonagall asked Sirius to tutor that one girl from Hufflepuff?" August asked Christina, who burst out laughing.

I frowned. "What happened?"  
"Sirius tried to tutor the girl, but she only fawned over him the whole lesson, and whenever he asked her something she would blush so hard you'd think her head was going to explode. In the end, her marks decreased so much instead of getting better, that Professor McGonagall had to get a Ravenclaw girl to do it instead." August explained.

I laughed. "Well we can be sure of one thing," I told the two girls. "That is deffinately not going to be the case if I do get Sirius or James as my tutor. We'd be throwing curses at each other the whole time instead"

"Isn't that the point, as it's Defence against the dark arts?" Christina smirked.

"Yeah but it would so sidetrack me from what I'm supposed to be learning for the exams that my marks will decrease anyway. Let's look at the reality now though, there's no way any teacher would let him tutor again, so the chances of him tutoring me is literally as big as Peeves deciding to stop causing havoc around the school"

August and Christina laughed and agreed, as we got up to get ready for our next class, which was Double Divination.

* * *

I had always been pretty good in Divination, and had made a few accurate prophesies to my friends' surprise. They thought Divination was a load of crap, and I honestly didn't know why they took it as a subject. Professor Trelawny, who was a young woman with crazy, light brown hair that wafted around as she floated from one student to the next, seemed very impressed with my work and always remarked how I had an ora. I giggled, as she must not have realized that by me being a Rochette, I was a direct descendant from one of the most famous seers in the wizarding world, Nina Kulagina. I had obviously inherited the seeing traits.

* * *

After classes were over, I said goodbye to Christina and August, then headed over to the library with Lily and Marlene. I hoped Lily was my tutor, but my dreams were quickly crushed when she told me she didn't know who it was.

I sighed and leant against one of the walls as Lily and Marlene headed into the library to do their homework.

Staring out of the window on the other side of the corridor, I watched as students started gathering in small groups outside to soak up the first rays of spring.

"Ah! Amara-Belle! My favorite person in the world!" I heard a cocky voice behind me.  
I spun around and glared at Sirius and James.  
James looked accusingly at Sirius. "I thought I was your favorite person in the world!" he said with mock hurt.  
Sirius laughed. "Well now you're my second fav, Prongs"  
James did a theatric gasp. "You're joking, right?"  
Sirius grinned. "Obviously."  
James regained his cool frame and ruffled his hair. "You scared me for a minute there, Padfoot"

I snorted. Those really were such stupid nicknames.

Sirius looked at me, as if he'd just remembered that I was present as well.

"I'll see you later mate," he glanced at James, who grinned and ran back down the hallway.

"Shall we?" Sirius motioned to the library doors.

I stared at him in confusion. "What do you want, Black?"

"Call me Sirius. I'm not very fond of my last name" he told me smiling, however I saw a glint of darkness in his grey eyes.

"Fine. Now what do you want?" I asked him rudely.

"Kiss you" he replied cheekily.

I glared at him.

"Fine, Fine! I'm here to tutor you" he told me with a smirk.

My organs dropped. He had to be kidding. "Professor Berrycloth wouldn't trust you."

"Seeing as I'm one of his best students, he does" Sirius smirked.

"This isn't going to work." I told him.

"Why not?" he asked

"Because I hate you?" I replied, as if he hadn't noticed the obvious yet.

"Hate is a very strong word. You might dislike me, although I really don't understand that, seeing as I'm such an amazing creation"

He was so up himself.

Sirius held out his arm to me. "Should we start now, or do you want to waste time arguing?" he grinned.

I glared at him, then stalked into the library, pointedly ignoring his arm.

* * *

"So I thought we could start with Patronus Charm"

"Are you purposely starting with the hardest?" I asked in an accusing tone.

"No," he replied. "I'm just curious as to what it'll be."

"There's not enough space in the library" I told him. I knew I'd make a fool of myself if I attempted it.

"You don't need space. Come, we'll go into a corner where no-one else can see us, so you won't embarrass yourself"

"Who says I'm going to embarrass myself?" I asked angrily.

"No-one manages it their first time" Sirius grinned.

"What do I have to do?" I asked him when we were out of site from the other students.

Sirius sat down on one of the couches and draped his arms across the back. If I didn't hate him that much I would have admitted he was pretty good-looking.

"Come sit" he said, patting the spot next to him. I didn't move. "Fine, keep standing. Think of your happiest memory." he told me.

I Thought of the time when just my cousins and I had gone on holiday around the south of france. I thought of the numerous balls I had attended with my friends at Beauxbatons. None of those times really filled me with happiness though. Then I remembered my big sister's wedding. They had been childhood sweethearts, and anyone who even looked at them would realize what a strong bond they had. Someday I would have a bond like that with someone, I decided. The wedding had been one of the most splendid, and had hundreds of guests. The look of adoration that my sister had when she said "I do" filled every spectator with so much emotion, I doubted anyone didn't cry. I was so proud to be her sister.

"Got it" I told Sirius.

He nodded and showed me the wand movement. "Now say the incantation while allowing your memory to fill you with happiness. Don't worry, you won't get it on your first time"

I nodded. I thought of my beautiful sister, the one I had looked up to throughout my whole life. "Expecto Patronum!" I said loudly, flourishing my wand.

A silver mist escaped from the end of my wand, and morphed into the shape of an animal. My eyes widened. The snow leopard that stood gracefully in front of me was the same shape, same size, same markings as that of my animagus.


	6. Betting

**Chapter 5**

"Shit, that was pretty good for a beginner" Sirius admitted.

"Impressed?" I smirked.

"To be honest I didn't think you'd be able to do it at all, so yes" Sirius grinned.

I rolled my eyes. "And how long did you and your group of Misfit friends take to learn the spell?"  
"One try." Sirius said cockily. "It's because we're naturals"  
I snorted. "You are so full of yourself!"

"Padfoot!" James's voice could be heard shouting in the library.

"Potter!" Madame Pince quietened him.

James ran around the bookshelf, then lept on top of Sirius, who gasped at James's weight.  
"Padfoot!" It's Moony's Birthday tomorrow!" James shouted.

"I know? We were talking about it a few weeks ago?" Sirius laughed while pushing James off him.

James sighed. "I completely forgot about it! How are we going to plan a Marauder-surprise-party in a day? Why haven't you said anything about it? Or is it because you're obsessing-"

At that point, Sirius kicked James in the crotch.

"Let's go somewhere a bit more private, mate" Sirius said seriously. "We're attracting enough attention as it is by just being in the library"

James looked at me, then nodded and disappeared around the bookshelf again.

"That's enough studying for today, I'll see you next week or something" Sirius told me quickly before following James.

"We hardly did anything though?" I told him.

"Yeah but Marauder issues always take priority" he grinned, before running off.

* * *

Christina and August burst into laughter when they discovered who my tutor was.  
"I can't wait to see how long he lasts before you hex him" August admitted as she lay on the couch in our common room.

"I'm betting two weeks" Christina said, who was sitting on the floor and leaning against the table, as was I.

"Then I'll bet one week, for one bottle of Firewhisky?" August challenged.

"You're on" Christina grinned.

"Seeing as I'm part of this bet, I get to drink some of the Firewhisky too, okay?" I sighed. "I really miss getting shit-faced with my friends" I laughed.

"Sure! But we're invited to Remus's birthday party tomorrow, so you'll have an opportunity then." August said with a wink.

"I heard James saying something about that before, what's happening?" I asked them.

"Well the Marauders have been throwing huge parties since our fourth year, and every Gryffindor in our year and above is invited, a few from below and any friends they have in other houses. They're normally held in the Room of Requirement, and Sirius and James always spike the punch, so usually everyone gets quite drunk." Christina explained.

I raised my eyebrows. "That sounds like my kind of thing, pity it's organized by pricks"

August and Christina laughed. "You'll still come though, yeah? Everyone talks about the parties for weeks afterwards" August asked.

"I'll see, depends how much the boys are pissing me off tomorrow" I sighed.

"Hey girlies" James grinned, leaning over the back of the sofa. "Excited to see the birthday prank we've set up for the Slytherins tomorrow?"

Sirius laughed, throwing himself onto the armchair across from us. Remus and Peter just smiled, sitting on the floor next to us.

"Let me guess, you're either turning their hair a different colour or turning their common room door into a shower" I smirked.

"How'd you know?" James's smile dropped from his face as he sat in the armchair next to Sirius's.

"Because your pranks are unoriginal," I said simply.

"No they're not, we're the masters of pranking!" Peter piped up.

I rolled my eyes. "Yes they are, and no you're not"  
"You couldn't do any better" Sirius laughed.

"Do you want to bet on that?" I asked.

"Sure" he grinned lazily.  
August and Christina looked unsure. "Be careful Amara" August whispered.

I grinned and shook my head. "What are we betting on?"

"If you win, I'll do anything you want me to do for two hours, and if I win you have to speak highly of the Marauders for the rest of this year. And if I catch you saying anything about us that doesn't honor us, you'll be in trouble." He said with a wink.

"You're on. One condition though, we can only have the help of two friends, otherwise it's unfair." I told him.

Sirius nodded slowly and Remus laughed; "Count me out, I know you guys and I don't want to loose my Prefect duties."  
"So I'll have James and Peter to help me, and you'll have Christina and August"

"Agreed. And we record our pranks by taking a picture" I told him.

"I don't own a camera," Sirius said.

"You can borrow mine" James told Sirius. "I'm excited for this prank war"

"Cool. When do we start?" Sirius asked

"Right now" I smirked.

Sirius grinned. "Sure. Good luck, Amara, you'll need it"

I laughed and grabbed Christina and August's hands. "See you boys later then" I said with a wink.

"You can't be serious with this prank war!" Christina said as we got ready for bed later that night.

I rolled my eyes. "Trust me, we're not going to loose this"  
"But Sirius has been pranking for more than five years now!" August told me.

I rolled my eyes. "I might come from a posh school but that hardly means we were well behaved"

They still looked unsure.

"Let's start with something simple!" I told them reassuringly. "And don't worry, we won't be caught, I know exactly what I'm doing!"

"Well when are you planning on starting?" August asked me as she jumped into bed.

"Tomorrow morning before breakfast. Knowing Sirius and James they'll be doing the same." I told them.

"So are we pranking them or the whole school?" Christina wondered.

"Just them first, I really want to do something to embarrass them." I grinned evilly.


	7. The War Begins

**Chapter 6**

The next morning August, Christina and I snuck out of our dorm just as the first rays of sunlight fell onto the castle. I made my way to the boys' dorm but paused outside their door. Faint snoring could be heard within. I grinned at my friends before slowly opening the door. The dorm was a complete mess. A variation of muggle and wizard magazines were strewn across the floor, and Quidditch posters of various sizes hung untidily from the walls. There was only one pair of neatly folded robes on a chair next to one of the beds, which I suspected was Remus's. The others lay on the floor or hung from the bed ends untidily. A door alike ours was set into the wall at the far end of the room; the bathroom. I grinned before silently making my way across, flanked by Christina and August. Thankfully the door opened silently, and I closed it again as we entered the bathroom.

I opened one of the drawers and found a hairbrush, a small jar (which I suspected contained hair wax), and a toothbrush. I picked up the hairbrush and inspected it more closely. Fine, dark hairs covered it. "This is James's" I told the girls quietly. "Let's let his hair stand on end!" I giggled, before tapping the brush with my wand, bewitching it.  
"But they don't use their hairbrushes!" August said.  
"Yes they do. You don't believe their hair is like that naturally, do you?" I frowned.  
"I bet they spend almost as much time as us in front of the mirror in the mornings" August whispered.

"Well we'll find out today I suppose" Christina shrugged.

I looked into the next drawer. Quidditch cards were scattered in it, as well as some Magazines that showed a girl that was hardly dressed on the front cover. I rolled my eyes. "I'm betting this is Sirius's" I laughed.

I grabbed the toothbrush and tapped it with my wand as well.

The next draw had two empty tubes of toothpaste, an old piece of cheese, which I questioned greatly, as well as a tub of face cream, which looked as if it was used daily. A message was scrawled on the side of it.

_"Don't forget to use this every morning darling!"_

"And this is Peter's" I grinned.  
I unscrewed the lid of the tub. After bewitching it, I put a spell on the cream to ensure that my spell stopped working after a few hours and that I didn't ruin the cream completely. I wasn't that bad of a person after all.

I carefully replaced all the things I had enchanted.  
"Are we going to bewitch any of Remus's things?" Christina asked.

I shook my head. "He's not part of this, and it's his birthday so I'm not going to ruin that for him" I told them.

We carefully snuck out of the bathroom again, just to come face to face with Remus.

He grinned at us and winked, then put a finger to his mouth, quieting us, before using hand signals to tell us to hurry up and leave before the other boys woke up.

I smiled and gave him a quick hug, before rolling onto the balls of my feet and whispering in his ear; "Happy Birthday! Oh and don't use any of the other boys' toothbrushes or hairbrushes this morning".

Then with a wink the girls and I disappeared out of the dorm room.

* * *

Half an hour later my whole dorm could be found at the Gryffindor table, tiredly eating breakfast. A few minutes after August had accidentally spilt her juice over Lily, the boys swaggered into the great hall like any other morning. As they slid onto the benches next to us, the only clue that something was up was a small smirk from Remus as he caught my eye. Christina and August looked at me with confused expressions. "Why don't they look different?" August whispered.

I grinned. "Everything takes time, darling" I answered her.

"So how did you girls sleep last night? Nervous yet?" Sirius asked me.

"We slept perfectly, thanks" I replied curtly.

Sirius grinned. "You seem quite relaxed!" he stated.

I nodded.

"You should be careful, Amara. You're not going to win this" Sirius whispered into my ear.

I grinned and looked him in the eye. "I could say the exact same to you, darling"

Sirius smirked. "You're only confident now. Anyway, you girls are coming to the party this evening right?" he asked us.

"Of course we're going to celebrate Remus's birthday!" After all, a boy only ever turns 17 once in his life!" I looked at Remus, who was grinning at me, then slowly inclined his head towards James. I glanced at Potter, and sure enough, his hair was starting to stand on end, very unlike his normal, windswept style. I giggled and looked at Sirius, who was currently stuffing his face with eggs and bacon. I caught a glance of his teeth. Sure enough, they were turning green. I nudged Christina and August, who started giggling uncontrollably. I finally looked at Peter. His skin was slowly turning orange, however it was still hardly noticeable.

Suddenly Sirius started laughing. "Prongs mate, something's up with your hair!"

James jumped up and felt his hair. A look of shock wiped his face as he realized it wouldn't flatten.

Sirius banged his fist on the table. "And your teeth! Merlin's beard you should probably brush more often"

My smile dropped from my face as I looked at James. The green tint was not unnoticeable. I slowly looked at Christina and August, before realized what had happened and bursting into laughter.

"Padfoot, your teeth are green! You can't say much about mine!" James said.

Sirius shook his head. "So are yours!"

James promptly shut his mouth. Remus, who was giggling behind his hand suddenly started loudly laughing again and pointed at Peter, who's skin was turning a bright colour of orange.

Other people were now starting to realize what was happening and pointed at the three boys, laughing along with the rest of us. The Marauders looked around the Great Hall with shocked faces.

"Nice prank girls." James admitted sullenly.

"Won't beat ours though" Sirius smirked.

I shrugged. "At least the girls and I realized that you boys really do spend time in the bathroom and it's not all natural"

"And that James and Sirius use the same toothbrush" Christina giggled.

"What? That's not true!" Sirius laughed.

"Yes it is. We only bewitched one toothbrush" August told them.

"Wait." James looked shocked and turned to Sirius. "Do you use the dark blue one?"

"Yeah, which one do you use?" Sirius asked.

James looked disgusted. "I've been using that one…" he trailed off.

Sirius and James looked shocked.

"That's bloody disgusting" Sirius said slowly.


	8. The best you can do?

**Chapter 7**

The girls and I soon left the Great Hall to get ready for classes.

"We did well girls!" I laughed. "August, did you take the picture?" I asked her.

She winked. "Sure did!"

"Great! Now we'll just wait for them to strike back"

* * *

I had told myself to be alert, and if possible avoid getting pranked. I soon found out that I wasn't the main target, but that there was no way to avoid getting pranked as well.

I only noticed something was amiss when my inkbottle started frothing during History of Magic. I glanced at Christina's, who was sitting beside me. Sure enough, hers too was bubbling dangerously, threatening to overflow.

A small screech made me look up. A Ravenclaw girl was pointing at her ink bottle. So I wasn't the only target James and Sirius had chosen. I looked around the classroom, realizing that every inkbottle had been bewitched. The frothing ink pots were now starting to overflow, ruining the notes people were taking. Lily, who was sitting in front of Christina and I was quickly trying to save her stacks of notes, her eyes furious. I had a feeling James would need to work even more on getting her back now. Professor Binns was desperately trying to reverse the magic, while students were gathering up their books to save them from getting ruined. A flash behind me made me turn around. James had taken a picture of the classroom, while Sirius caught my eye and winked.

I rolled my eyes. "Is this the best you can do, Black?" I asked.

He grinned and I noticed his teeth were no longer green. "I'm waiting for you to come up with something better" he replied.

He didn't have to wait long, as I spent my free period before lunch conjuring up hundreds of tiny bouncy-balls. Then I waited until students started piling out of classes and heading towards the Great Hall before I let all the balls fall down the main staircase at once. Students scattered and girls were screeching. I elbowed Christina, who was laughing loudly alongside August.

"Hurry up and take the picture" I told her.

She nodded and quickly captured the moment.

A slow clapping of hands made my friends and I turn around. James and Sirius were standing behind us, giving a mock applause.

"Impressive, but we did that prank two years ago" Sirius smirked.

"Not to this scale though" August smirked. "They only had like twenty balls" she explained to me.

I rolled my eyes. "At the moment I've still beaten you" I told Sirius.

"You're talking to the King of pranking, darling. You might as well give up now" he said cockily.

I laughed. "In your dreams!" Then I turned to August and Christina again. "Let's clear out before any of the professors arrive."

"Don't forget I'm tutoring you this evening! Meet me in the library after dinner" Sirius grinned.

I rolled my eyes again but nodded to show that I understood before I grabbed my friends' hands and pulled them down the corridor.

The rest of the day passed prank-free, something that I confronted Sirius about as soon as we met outside the library. "Given up already, Black?" I asked him.

"You wish! The best pranks take time, that's all" he said with a wink.

I laughed, then stared at him in confusion as he started walking down the corridor again, away from the library.

"What happened to you tutoring me?" I asked him.

He turned to me and grinned. "I committed enough social suicide by being in that library last time, I'm not doing that again. After all, I have a reputation to uphold." He replied simply, before turning around again and continuing down the corridor.

"So you're not tutoring me anymore?" I asked him.

He turned around. "And miss out on my valuable time with you? Of course not" he said with a smile.

I narrowed my eyes. I couldn't tell if he was being serious or not.

He grinned. "We're just going somewhere else. Trust me"

He held out his hand to me.

"I'm not stupid, I'm not going to trust you!" I laughed. "You're probably going to prank me!"

He rolled his eyes. "I swear on Prongs' life I'm not going to prank you" he told me.

"Fine" I sighed and followed behind him.

He held out his hand to me, but I looked up to him and smirked. "I'm not going to touch you, I wouldn't be surprised if you had some type of disease"

"Why are you so rude?" he asked me as he lead the way down the corridor.

I snorted. "Says the one who is practically famous for his cockiness"

"You're just jealous that you're not as famous as me" he grinned at me.

"But I will be after everyone knows I've beaten the famous "Marauders" in pranking!"

Sirius laughed and turned another corner. "You're funny Amara! We're here by the way"

I looked around. "I knew you were bullshitting me" I told him, as no classrooms were anywhere in sight.

He turned around and winked at me, before I realized he was pacing up and down from where we were standing. "What the hell are you doing?" I asked him.

He smirked at me and laughed, then took my shoulders and turned me to face the wall.

It was then I noticed the door that was slowly appearing in the stone wall I faced. I blinked a few times, the door quickly solidified, and I laughed at the magic.

"I love watching people when they first see this" Sirius grinned behind me.

I suddenly became aware of how close he was standing behind me and pushed him away. "You like watching people?" I asked him. "Pervert"

He grinned and pushed open the door. "Ladies first" he motioned into the room.

The first thing I noticed about the room were the huge windows that showed the school grounds. Red drapes hung from either sides, and large book cases stood on the sides of the room. I stepped onto something soft and when I looked down I realized the floor was covered in the softest carpet imaginable. I grinned. "What is this place?" I asked Sirius.

"I present to you… The Room Of Requirement" He grinned and shut the door behind him. "Didn't have anything like this in Beauxbatons, did you?".

"Well we lived in a French palace instead of a cold old castle, so obviously there are going to be differences" I told him.

He laughed. "Oh 'mara, you know you love it here-" he paused. "You know you love me!"

I rolled my eyes. "You wish, Black"


	9. The last prank

** Chapter 8**

Surprisingly, Sirius worked me hard that tutoring lesson and I felt like I had learned a lot. It was weird seeing Sirius being serious – pun not intended. That evening I fell onto my bed tiredly. I was exhausted, and prayed I could get a good night's sleep as I closed my eyes.

Christina shook me awake the next morning. "Did you win the bet? Because Black hasn't done any prank since your last one!"  
I grinned. "Told you he couldn't beat me"  
Christina frowned. "It's not like him to just back down- usually he'd fight, especially if the consequences are loosing to the new girl"  
I rolled my eyes. "Well I have other things up my sleeve in case he does decide to try"

The girls and I were on our way to breakfast when I realized that Christina was right- Sirius didn't back down so easily. Students and teachers were soaked from head to toe and running in all directions – every doorway in the castle had been bewitched apart form those in the Gryffindor common rooms. The consequences of walking through these doors were that a waterfall would cascade onto you as you walked underneath. I grinned. Maybe Sirius did have some genuine pranks in him.

At breakfast, every student apart from the Gryffindors was wet, which caused quite a few giggles from the red and gold house. McGonagall had her mouth pressed into a thin line when she approached our table, and addressed the older students. She told us that whoever had done the prank were immature and there would be consequences when they could prove who was responsible, as it had caused havoc and will certainly interrupt the first few lessons before the doorways were fixed. She gave a pointed look at James and Sirius before she left, however as a Slytherin ran across the Great Hall and slipped, I could have sworn I saw her lips twitch upwards into a small smirk.

"Bet you can't beat that Amara" Sirius smirked as he sat down next to me in Transformation.

I grinned before leaning in and whispering, "Just you wait".

I noticed how his breathing hitched at my closeness, and he glanced down at my lips. I quickly noticed the static charge between us, and whipped round to face the front again, my heart beating fast. What had happened there? Sirius was still watching me, and only turned round when McGonagall asked him a question.

I quickly forgot about the incident in transfiguration – I had more important things to worry about such as planning my next prank. I had to make sure that this one was unbeatable. Luckily, I had Christina and August ready to help me, their homework long forgotten.

I swanned into the Great Hall at dinner, the camera tucked into my pocket. The unsuspecting students were already sitting in groups and tucking into the potatoes and other roast food – a typical Friday dinner.

Sirius called over to me as I sat down next to August and Lily. "I'm still waiting Amara!"

I grinned and looked up at the ceiling. The sky was already quite dark, and the first few stars were already shining. I saw a blue streak out of the corner of my eye and knew the drama was about to start.

A shriek confirmed my suspicions, as bowls had begun to tip over and a dozen more blue streaks appeared around the hall, tugging at people's hair and smashing plates against the floor. Sirius looked around then made eye contact with me. "Cornish Pixies?" he laughed. I nodded and quickly took out the camera.

The hall was in havoc when Dumbledore came running in, shouting a spell before all the pixies dropped to the floor, knocked out. Professor McGonagall marched over to the Gryffindor table. "Black and Rochelle, please follow me."

Sirius and I followed her and Dumbledore down corridors until we reached McGonagall's office. I admit I was nervous, although if I got expelled I could go back to Beauxbatons which didn't seem like a bad idea, however I had made friends here which I wasn't planning on abandoning so quickly.

"That was very immature." Was the first thing McGonagall told us.

"You will both be doing detention this weekend"

I heard Sirius groan beside me. "But Professor, I have a date!"

Professor McGonagall lifted an eyebrow. "Then instead of going to Hogsmeade, you and Rochelle can have your date in the trophy room. Cleaning the trophies.

I frowned. "He's not going on his date with me" I explained.

Dumbledore turned around and stared at us with scrutinizing eyes. He then smiled at Professor McGonagall as his eyes twinkled as he shrugged. "Oh the feeling of being young and confusing one's for another" he smiled, before turning back to us. "Be glad we aren't expelling you" he eyed us, before walking out of the room.

Professor McGonagall sighed as she sat down in her chair. "You may go. And if I even hear a whisper about you getting in any kind of trouble you'll be facing bigger problems than a weekend of detention. I won't contact your parents, because I am aware of both your situations" she told us, and then started sifting through papers on her desk, a sign that we were dismissed.

I shut the door of her office behind me and looked curiously at Sirius. "What did she mean your situation?" I asked him.

His eyes darkened as he shrugged his shoulders and started walking back down the hallway.

"Black! Wait!" I called after him, however my calls were ignored.

"Sirius?" I asked more softly and he stopped, however didn't turn back. I quickly walked towards him and grabbed hold of his hand; ignoring the rush of blood I felt when I touched him. "What's wrong?" I asked as he turned to face me.

He looked me dead in the eye and I saw how cold his grey eyes had become, the rebellious spark gone. "You're not the only one with family problems Amara. You might wish yours were still alive but I definitely wish mine were dead" he told me bluntly, before wrenching his hand out of mine and stalking down the hallway, leaving me staring at his retreating back.


	10. Detention

**Chapter 9**

"So who won the pranking war?" Marlene asked me that evening.

I laughed and shrugged. "I honestly don't know! Probably me because I was the last one to do one"

Christina giggled. "Well you and Black can sort that out tomorrow in your detention"

I scowled. "You'll have to get me something from Hogsmeade okay?" I asked them.

They nodded as they climbed into bed.

"Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall thought that Sirius and I were going on a date tomorrow" I told the girls, and the room erupted into laughter.

"Really?" Christina giggled.

Lily sat up in bed. "You know Dumbledore often knows things about the students here even before they know it themselves" she told me.

I snorted. "But Sirius and I aren't going out, and I really doubt we ever will"

Lily shrugged and snuggled down into her bed, while Christina frowned.

"Why not? There are few people more attractive than him!" she asked. "I know I would" she giggled.

"Everyone knows you would" I laughed. " But he's so obnoxious and he is SO full of himself! And we're in the middle of a wizarding war if you haven't noticed and there is a whole group of Death Eaters whose job is specifically to kill me." I said simply.

Christina looked sad. "I'm sorry about that. But I do think that you two would make a great couple!" she grinned.

I snorted. "Didn't you just say that you would like me to date him? He won't be available if I do"

Christina shook her head and smiled. "Sirius and I don't fit together. If Dumbledore thinks you're going out, you will be soon"

I rolled my eyes. "I'd rather date the Giant Squid from the Black Lake" I told her as I pulled the bed covers up to my shoulders.

"If that's what you say" came the reply, before we both drifted to sleep.

* * *

The next morning I pulled on a pair of sweatpants, a singlet and put my hair in a messy bun while my friends dressed in tight jeans and cute jumpers. I was supposed to be at the doors of the trophy room at exactly 10am, the same time that the girls were leaving to go to Hogsmeade.

Surprisingly, Sirius was already at the doors with Filch when I arrived.

"Hurry up Rochette, if you don't do enough these following hours I'll make sure that you and Black spend more than just today and tomorrow doing detention." Filch sternly said in his raspy voice.

I stayed silent and followed him and Sirius into the trophy room. My eyes widened at the sheer amount of brass, silver and gold cups that stood in glass cases. Sirius turned around as we followed Filch to the back of the room. "Cute outfit" he said, raising his eyebrows.

I rolled my eyes. "Same goes for you" I told him. He was wearing a similar pair of sweatpants, shoes and a jumper that defined his arm muscles. My eyes lingered on his body, which he noticed and smirked, and I felt a small blush rise to my cheeks.

As soon as Filch had left the room with our confiscated wands and left us behind with buckets of water and other cleaning materials, Sirius lay down on the floor. I stared at his back and waited. "So you're not helping?" I asked.

He chuckled. "I'll help later. I just need a short nap"

"What, late night yesterday?" I asked him sarcastically.

"Yeah it was full moon. That means stargazing with all my girlfriends"

I rolled my eyes and unlocked one of the cabinets. I grabbed the first trophy, and poured a polishing potion on one of the cloths. It took a while, but after half an hour I had finished the first and I could easily see my reflection in it. I was on my third trophy and humming softly before Sirius stirred and sat up. He yawned and stretched as he got up and walked over to where I was.

"Oh, here's something that will help" he said casually, handing me a bottle with a green, gloopy liquid inside it. "It might make it go faster" he grinned.

I narrowed my eyes and tried it out. To my surprise, the new potion worked spectacularly, and in no time the trophy I was holding was polished more than any of the others I had done were.

"Why the hell didn't you give me this before, Black?" I asked.

He shrugged, before getting another trophy out. "I had to give you payback for winning the pranking war" he laughed.

I scowled. "So mature, Black"

"Maturity is one of my most attractive traits" he smirked, raising an eyebrow at me.

I rolled my eyes. "I honestly don't understand how you can even speak with your head so far up your own ass".

He gave a raspy laugh and shook his head. "What did you have for breakfast this morning, bitch flakes?"

"You think you're so funny but in truth you're really unoriginal and I feel sorry for you" I told him.

Sirius grinned and lay down on the floor beside me again. "You're just jealous that you're not a Marauder"

I snorted. "What is it with your stupid names anyway?"

Sirius looked offended. "They're not stupid! Anyway, we got 'Marauders' from Lily so technically you're insulting her"

"I bet she wasn't planning on you boys using it though for the rest of your time at school" I answered, lifting up the trophy I held and smiling at the now-shiny surface. "Could you at least help a little bit with these trophies?" I asked him.

He shook his head and grinned. "It's much more fun watching you do all the work. And anyway, with that potion everything goes five times faster so you're kind of doing my job as well, and if we do too many trophies, Filch will suspect that we've been using magic and make us come back next week anyway" he explained, grinning.

"But you could at least do a few and then we can both rest later" I told him.

"Can't we rest now?" He whined. "I'm tired."

I sighed and moved the cleaning materials away and lay down as well, with a respectable distance between Sirius and I.

It was quiet for a few minutes before I broke the silence. "What happened with Remus's birthday?" I asked. "I mean, everyone wished him happy birthday but weren't you guys wanting to throw a party for him?"

Sirius grinned. "He didn't want to make it big and risk the teachers finding out and him getting his prefect status taken away, so we ended up just having a Marauders-only party"

I laughed. "That's so cute. You should have invited us girls though, because I know that I'm not the only one desperate for a drink"

Sirius glanced at me, his eyes wide. "You drink?"

"Why the surprise?"

"Well you come from Beauxbatons, I expected you to be all posh and everything" he answered.

I grinned. "Was my pranking not proof enough that I'm not your average posh girl?"

"I'm glad you're not a normal posh girl" Sirius smirked. "Because they're not my type at all"

I laughed. "And what is your type then?"

"Wouldn't you like to know" he said, lifting an eyebrow.

I rolled my eyes. "I really don't care but I'd rather know so I can warn my friends in case your type are girls whose name is Christina or Marlene or something."

"Don't fool yourself" Sirius laughed. "You wish my type were girls whose name was Amara"

"Stop flattering yourself because I will never like you" I told him.

Sirius grinned and shifted over so he was lying next to me, staring at my face. "Really?" he whispered.

I turned to face him, ignoring how small the space between us was. "Really." I answered flatly.

"So you're not feeling anything right now?" he asked, his lips curving up in a smile as he moved forward, leaving only centimeters between us.

I suppressed the weird energy in my tummy and tried to look into his grey eyes and shake my head.

"And now?" he asked, our noses almost touching, his twinkling eyes glancing down at my lips.

I frowned. What was he doing? The feeling in my stomach had only increased at his closeness, and I just felt like giving in, touching his hair and pressing my lips onto his. My breathing hitched, I glanced down at his lips and lent in.

Sirius snorted and lay down again and rolled away, putting a distance between us once again. I stared at him, my mouth open in shock. What the hell was he doing?

"I knew you wanted me Amara" Sirius grinned lazily, putting his hands behind his head.

I kept staring at him. He could not be serious. My shock dissolved into anger quickly, and I stood up and walked over to Sirius, who was looking up at me with fake innocence. "What's up, sunshine? Did you just realize the truth?"

"That you're the biggest dick I've ever met? Yes, how'd you know?" I answered coolly.

"Then why'd you want to kis-" Sirius began, before I punched him in the stomach. "Ow!" he exclaimed, jumping up from the floor. "You have a good punch, did you know that?" Sirius asked me.

"You are such a wanker" I seethed, storming out of the room, ignoring Sirius's whiny voice behind me complaining that we hadn't finished the detention yet.


End file.
